Mark Fields is the next Ford CEO

A move that surprised no one.

It's the most important bit of non-news Ford fans will read this morning, but the total lack of surprise in the announcement doesn't make it less important: Alan Mulally is stepping down as CEO, effective July 1 of this year, and Mark Fields is taking his place at the helm.

Fields has been the heir apparent for a while. He was the former honcho in charge of Ford's most important market, North American operations, before becoming chief operating officer. And during Field's tenure, the NA business has really turned around. (His experiences with Ford's Premier Automotive Group, the division that included doomed Mercury and troubled Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover, were less of a feather in his cap.)

What's going to change? Not a lot, at the moment. Ford's product line is locked in for a spell, and so there won't be any major course changes right away. And Fields is the ultimate insider, and the first choice for Mulally and the board, so devotees of the 'One Ford' religion shouldn't have any reason to nervously rub their lucky Blue Ovals.

For us, so long as we keep getting the previously forbidden Euro goodies like the Fiesta ST and the American stalwarts like the Mustang see more improvements in the line-lock vein, we'll be happy as clams.